Program teaches freshmen about making healthy relationships
Forty Chillicothe adults sought services from the Center For Prevention of Abuse during its fiscal year.
“To me, these numbers show the need for prevention,” said Patti Morris, director of prevention and children services for the center.
To aid in prevention, the center’s educators present healthy relationship programs to students.
Last school year, educators taught more than 900 students, including Illinois Valley Central High School’s freshman class.
The program, broken into four one-hour sessions, assists students in learning what is, or is not, a healthy relationship. They discuss sexual harassment, teen dating violence, date rape drugs and date rape.
The information focuses on learning the elements of a healthy relationship and avoiding abusive relationships, which include limiting other relationships (isolation), criticizing what the girlfriend/boyfriend’s activities are or their friends, resulting to force, violence or coercion to get one’s way at girlfriend/boyfriend’s expense and jealousy.
Morris said explaining to teenagers what coercion is and dispelling the theory that jealousy is OK in a relationship are two of the most important topics center educators discuss with the students.
“We believe that by teaching them we can help them know what’s healthy before they become involved in a violent situation in the future,” said Morris.
For the last 10 years, center educators have visited IVC High School classrooms, at the request originally by Shellie Frost, Morris said.
Frost, a longtime health educator at Illinois Valley Central High School, said the program aids Chillicothe teenagers in their relationships.
“It creates an understanding of what healthy boundaries are,” said Frost.
Of course, she also said, they find out what is not OK as well.
“It’s not appropriate to make excessive calls. It’s not appropriate to make calls in the middle of the night. It’s not appropriate to be fighting and bickering.”
Sometimes, she said, students may not be told by their parents or shown by example how healthy relationships work.
“If someone doesn’t tell them it’s not right, then they might not pick it up by themselves,” said Frost.
For some, the teaching may assist them when they are ready to be in a healthy relationship.
“It helps them understand when it’s too soon to be in a relationship,” said Frost. “It helps them understand why it’s better to not be sexually active.”
For others, the information may help them not be involved in too many relationships.
